Presented by Rock for Relief WNC, the “Black Tie-Dye Ball” will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 23, at The Orange Peel in Asheville.

Headlining the event will be acclaimed indie-rock act Susto. Support will be provided by rising Americana/indie act Holler Choir and indie/folk group Watkins. 

A special new exhibit, “Didanisisgi Gadagwatli: A Showcase of Pottery from the Mud Dauber Community Workshop” will open on Thursday, May 29, at the Museum of the Cherokee People in Cherokee. 

The annual Cold Mountain Music Festival will be held May 30-June 1 at the Lake Logan Retreat Center in Canton.

Artists to appear onstage include The Last Revel, American Aquarium, Melissa Carper, Fireside Collective, Denitia, The Moon & You, Fancy & The Gentlemen and more. 

The Haywood County Public Library recently unveiled a memorial to Fred Chappell at its Canton branch, which honors his literary achievements and dedication to teaching creative writing. 

The Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce are proud to present the 16th season of the annual “Concerts on the Creek” music series. 

• Friday, May 23 at 6 p.m. – Peter McDade presents his novel “King Cal” in conversation with Christy Alexander Hallberg. Set in the world of music, the novel explores the creative journey of Calvin, a fast-food worker and aspiring musician, as he loses everything in a single day and must decide if chasing his dream is worth the cost. 

A special production of “Next to Normal” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. May 23-24, 30-31, June 6-7, 12-14 and 2 p.m. May 25, June 1, 8 and 15 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. 

The annual QuickDraw art fundraiser will once again be held from 4:30-9 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at Laurel Ridge Country Club in Waynesville. 

A regional Americana/bluegrass act, Granny’s Mason Jar will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 24, at Mountain Layer Brewing in Bryson City. 

Dubbed “Stitched in Time: The Legacy of Quilting & Upholstery in Haywood County,” a special quilting and upholstery show will be held from 4-6 p.m. Friday, May 30, at the Mary L. Cornwell Gallery in the Sycamore Building at Haywood Community College in Clyde. 

The 29th annual Swain County Heritage Festival will be held May 23-24 at Riverfront Park in Bryson City.

Live music, clogging, heritage demonstrations, artisan vendors and much more.

One of the newest and most exciting acts emerging from Asheville, Las Montañitas will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

Las Montañitas brings the Andes to the Appalachians.

Haywood Waterways Association, Haywood County Environmental Health Department and Jennings Environmental are hosting workshops about septic systems and streambank erosion control techniques on Wednesday, May 28. 

On Wednesday, June 4, at UNCA’s Olli Reuter Center and on Zoom, join Joe Minicozzi of Urban 3 for a discussion of our region’s urban planning. 

The Asheville-Blue Ridge Rose Society will host its annual Rose Exhibition at The North Carolina Arboretum in the Education Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 24 and 25.

This two-day event showcases the diverse range of roses grown by Rose Society members and at local gardens. 

Jackson County’s Blue Ridge School is offering a soccer camp at its field.

The camp will run from 8 a.m. to noon from May 28-30. Ages 6-12. Cost is $60 per day, and registration is open through May 26. 

Kids ages 10-14 in Jackson County will have the chance to learn the ins and out of archery.

The course will be held from 5-8 p.m. May 30 at the Cashiers/Glenville Recreation Center. 

The Franklin Bird Club leads walks along the Greenway on Wednesday mornings at 8 a.m. through September. Walks start at alternating locations: Macon County Public Library, Big Bear Park and Salali Lane. 

The Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center in Waynesville has recently announced its 2025 “Pigeon Community Conversations with Storytellers Series.” 

Fairview School kindergarten teacher Anna Woods was named the Jackson County Public Schools District Teacher of the Year during the Excellence in Education Awards Evening on May 8th, 2025. 

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch announced that two men in two separate cases in Macon County pleaded guilty this week to trafficking illegal drugs.

In the first case, Franklin resident Joshua Charles Schooler, 36, was sentenced in Macon County Superior Court for trafficking in methamphetamine. 

More than two dozen vendors will take part in the fifth season of the Mill Town Farmers Market, which opens Thursday, May 15, and continues every Thursday through Oct. 30. 

Visitors should plan for single lane closures on Cosby Entrance Road through June. 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has reopened the Cosby Area following the construction of a new culvert under Cosby Entrance Road. 

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake with an epicenter south of Knoxville was felt throughout the region last weekend.

The quake hit at 9:04 a.m. Saturday, May 10. 

The Environmental Action Community of Western North Carolina (EAC) will host renowned speaker Andrew Jones, at the Terrace Hotel Auditorium (689 N.  Lakeshore Drive, Lake Junaluska) from 6:30-8 p.m. May 15 in a free interactive presentation on climate, resilience and action. 

Jackson County Recreation is offering opportunities for people to enjoy a stand-up paddleboarding session for anyone age 14 or older.

Sessions will be held May 20 and July 1 at Wolf Lake and June 5 and June 20 at Bear Lake. 

The Haywood Community Band (HCB) will kick off its 2025 season with a special concert, a “Celebration of Song and Dance,” at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at the Calvary Road Baptist Church in Maggie Valley. 

A community jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, on the front patio of the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer or anything unplugged is invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. 

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler is encouraging equine owners to have their animals vaccinated against Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis and West Nile Virus. 

Spring and summer mean more time outdoors, but they also mean tick season. Ticks can carry serious diseases like Lyme disease, so take these steps to protect yourself and your loved ones. Haywood County Environmental Health offers these simple tips: 

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) State Energy Office has selected seven projects to receive more than $20 million to improve North Carolina’s electric grid.

Full-time residents of Haywood, Jackson and Buncombe counties can save money playing golf at Lake Junaluska Golf Course with a seasonal rate discount card. 

Do you have a gardening question? NC State Extension Master Gardener volunteers are available to answer your questions about lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to pest problems. 

Kids ages 10-14 in Jackson County will have the chance to learn the ins and out of archery.

The course will be held from 2-5 p.m. May 17 at the Cashiers/Glenville Recreation Center. 

Duke Energy Foundation has awarded United Way of Haywood County a $25,000 grant to expand its post-Helene efforts in western North Carolina. The funding is part of $500,000 in new grants from Duke Energy Foundation awarded to 20 nonprofits supporting long-term recovery efforts in western North Carolina. 

Gov. Josh Stein announced that the Dogwood Health Trust, the Duke Endowment and the State of North Carolina have distributed $55 million to 2,812 small businesses through the Western North Carolina Small Business Initiative. These grants are supporting Western North Carolina businesses impacted by Hurricane Helene and bolstering regional economic recovery. More than 7,300 businesses applied.  

David Moore and Darren Whatley place a lot of value on public education, having both attended public universities. Moore is an alumnus of the University of South Alabama and began his graduate studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany, while Whatley attended Louisiana State University and the University of Texas.

But Western Carolina University holds a special place in their hearts, as the Highlands residents have pledged an estate legacy gift in excess of $10 million to the university. It’s the largest planned gift in WCU’s history.

“We’re excited about the potential at Western,” Moore said. “We’re excited for the students who are attracted to Western and graduate from Western, the productive lives they will lead, and the impact that they will have in their communities.”

Whatley and Moore’s generous gift will be allocated to several programs and departments that the two have an interest in.  

Forty percent of the gift will be designated for the David Moore Office of Global Engagement, which supports WCU’s academic activities abroad, including the hosting of international students, faculty-led travel and study abroad programs and other resources.

Another 40% will be devoted to the Darren Whatley School of Art and Design. The school offers undergraduate degree programs in interior design, studio arts, graphic design and art education, as well as a Master of Fine Arts program.

The last 20% will be issued to the Moore Whatley Honors College Program Endowment, which will support programs within the Brinson Honors College.

Moore and Whatley are very interested in all three of these programs, as Moore is an advocate for international learning, Whatley, an interior designer, has a rapport with the interior design program at WCU, and they have both supported the Brinson Honors College for several years.

“The generosity of David Moore and Darren Whatley to WCU over the years is unmatched,” said WCU Chancellor Kelli R. Brown. “Their ten-million-dollar legacy gift, the largest planned gift in Western Carolina University’s history, will transform the lives of our students for generations to come. I am profoundly grateful that David and Darren have chosen WCU to receive this gift, which is a tangible expression of their passion and commitment to the future of western North Carolina.”

WCU has played a part in their lives, and they know that WCU is of great importance to this part of the state.  Whatley said that “WCU is the economic engine of the western part of the state.”

The fact that nearly 40% of the students at WCU are first generation college students and that tuition is only $500 per semester for North Carolina residents, are additional reasons that Moore and Whatley support the university.

While both grew up near the Gulf Coast, the couple has called Western North Carolina home for more than 25 years, and they’ve certainly made it home with their community involvement.

Moore, a retired corporate banker, is chairman of the Community Care Clinic of Highlands-Cashiers and serves on several Highlands-Cashiers boards, as well as the Brinson Honors College advisory board and the WCU Foundation.

Whatley, who leads a local interior design firm, is chairman of the Town of Highlands Planning Board and serves on the Highlands Performing Arts Center Board of Directors.

“This has been home,” Whatley said. “Western Carolina is a special place and WCU is a primary focus for us.”

The 22nd annual Whole Bloomin’ Thing Festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 10, in the Historic Frog Level District of Waynesville.

Children’s activities, local growers and artisans/crafters, flowering baskets, herbs, outdoor decor, live music and more.

Shortly after a wildfire broke out in the Lower Alarka region of Swain County, Southwestern Community College’s Megan Nicholson made arrangements to help firefighters and emergency management teams set up their temporary command center at SCC’s Swain Center. 

People can get their Lake Junaluska Summer Activity Passes now. Enjoy admission to the lakeside pool all summer long as well as discounts on recreation, shopping and dining at Lake Junaluska. Passes are valid from May 24 through Sept. 1, 2025, and are now available online at bit.ly/LJSummerPasses. 

The National Park Service (NPS), in partnership with Friends of the Smokies, is beginning a multi-year rehabilitation of the iconic Bullhead Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

On Sunday, May 4 with the cooperation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the North Shore Cemetery Association will host decorations at Woody and Hoyle Cemeteries. 

The National Park Service has selected LeConte Lodge L.P. as the concessioner for the new contract to provide services at LeConte Lodge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This contract will be effective for 10 years from 2025 to 2035. 

Join Jackson County Recreation from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, May 4, at Cullowhee Valley School for a bike rodeo.

This is a bicycle safety event where when you register you get a free helmet (while supplies last). All children will also be entered in a raffle to win a bike. 

Haywood Regional Medical Center is offering free sports physicals for local student athletes on Tuesday, May 13, at the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center in Clyde.

Master gardener volunteers will be on hand at a booth on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, May through August, at Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market in Waynesville in the HART Theater parking lot. 

Visitors should prepare for planned routine road maintenance in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Park maintenance crews will implement temporary, single-lane closures along the north and southbound Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge through May 1 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then from May 5-8 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The Franklin farmers market will open up for the season beginning May. 

Tuscola High School senior Hunter Sollie has received a prestigious appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, one of the nation’s most selective and esteemed military institutions.

In celebration of National Travel and Tourism Week, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority invites the public to an open house event on Thursday, May 8, from 3 to 6 p.m., at the Haywood County Visitor Center, located at 91 North Lakeshore Drive in Lake Junaluska.